ALDINGTON, RICHARD (EDWARD GODFREE ALDINGTON)
Novelist, Imagist Poet, Biographer and translator. One of the founders
of Imagism in 1912 with his future wife Hilda Doolittle (they married
1913 and divorced 1937), and Ezra Pound.

ALLEN, CHARLES GRANT BLAIRFINDIE
Novelist, Philosopher and scientific writer. He married Caroline
Bootheway in 1868 (she died of TB in 1871). His second wife, Ellen
Jerrard, he married in 1873. Wrote about 30 novels. He died of liver
disease.

ALLINGHAM, MARGERY LOUISE
Novelist & Playwright. Daughter of Herbert John Allingham. Married
the Artist Philip Youngman Carter (died 1970) in 1927 and he illustrated
the dustjackets of many of her books. He was also her literary adviser
and unofficial collaborator. Creator of Mr Albert Campion &
Magersfontein Lugg. She died of cancer

AMBRUS, VICTOR GYOZO LAZLO
Book illustrator. Came to England 1956. Worked extensively for OUP. Married to Glenys Ambrus, also a book illustrator

ANDERSON, ANNE
Book illustrator. Born of Scottish parents in Argentina, but lived in
Berkshire. Married the illustrator Alan Wright in 1912, and they
collaborated on many children's books. She was also an etcher,
watercolour artist & greeting card designer

B

BADEN-POWELL, SIR ROBERT STEPHENSON SMYTH, 1ST BARON
Founder of the Boy Scouts. A trial camp was held on Brownsea Island in
1907 and in 1908 Scouting for Boys began to appear in parts.
Commissioned in the Hussars, he studied woodcraft, reconnaissance &
scouting whilst stationed in India. Fame came during the Boer War, he
was involved in the defence of Mafeking. He married in 1912. Talented
artist and sculptor

BARING-GOULD, SABINE
Novelist, Essayist, Hymn Writer ("Onward Christian Soldiers") &
Miscellanous Writer. Married Grace Taylor, a young mill-hand, in 1868.
They had 15 children. Prolific writer - the British Museum catalogue
lists more books by him in his era than any other author

BARRIE, J M (JAMES MATTHEW)
Playwright. Married Mary Ansell in 1894 (divorced 1909). In 1897 he met
Sylvia Llewellyn Davies (daughter of George Du Maurier). She was married
to a barrister and had several young children. When her husband died in
1907 Barrie assumed financial responsibility for them, and, when their
mother died of cancer in 1910 he adopted them. He became devoted to his
secretary, Lady Cynthia Asquith in later life

BEARDSLEY, AUBREY VINCENT
Illustrator & Writer. Art Editor of the Yellow Book for four issues.
Then became Art editor of The Savoy (it contained his only published
written work, three short poems and a short, highly erotic prose version
of the Tannhauser story). Became a Catholic in1897. Died of TB

BECKETT, SAMUEL BARCLAY
Playwright, novelist & writer. Nobel Prize 1969. Went to Paris to
teach in the late twenties but gave it up when he realised he wasn't
suited to teaching. Travelled in Germany and undertook psychotherapy in
London before settling in Paris in 1937. Active in the Resistance. From
1946 he wrote in French

BECKFORD, WILLIAM THOMAS
Writer of Oriental tales & Travel books who inherited the Fonthill
estate in Wiltshire in 1770. He pulled down the existing house, Fonthill
Splendens and in 1796 had the architect James Wyatt build Fonthill
Abbey, a Gothic mansion, for him (it collapsed in 1825 !). His library
was inherited by his son-in-law the 10th Duke of Hamilton, who had
married Beckford's second daughter Susanna

BEERBOHM, SIR MAX (HENRY MAXIMILIAN)
Artist, Book illustrator, Critic and writer. In 1910 married Florence
Kahn, an American actress. They lived in Rapallo on the Italian Riviera.
In 1956 he married Elisabeth Jungmann

BEMELMANS, LUDWIG
Writer & Artist. Emigrated to USA 1914. Married Madeleine Freund in 1935. He died of cancer

BENNETT, ENOCH ARNOLD
Novelist & Dramatist. 1902 moved to France, married a Frenchwoman,
Marguerite Soulie in 1907. Returned to live in England 1908 and lived
with Dorothy Cheston for the rest of his life.

BENSON, EDWARD FREDERICK
Novelist. Father was headmaster of Wellington, and later became
Archbishop of Canterbury. Brother of A C Benson. He lived in Lamb House,
Rye, the former home of Henry James

BEWICK, THOMAS
Wood Engraver with his brother John. Apprenticed to the Newacstle
engraver Ralph Beilby. Called the restorer of wood engraving. Worked in
black and white. His pupils included John Bewick, Robert Johnson,
Charlton Nesbit, Luke Clennel & William Harvey

BLACKWOOD, ALGERNON HENRY
Novelist & Short Story Writer. Emigrated to America in 1889,
returning to England in 1899. Lived in Switzerland 1908-14 and became an
undercover agent during the First World War.

BLAKE, WILLIAM
Artist, Poet, Mystic & Engraver. Apprenticed to the engraver James
Basire 1772-9. Married Catherine Boucher in 1782 and, together they
wrote, illustrated, printed and bound their own books. Blake perfected
the process of illuminated printing

BOOKER PRIZE
Leading British annual literary prize, launched in 1968 by the cash
& carry firm of Booker McConnell for the best novel in English. In
1995 it was worth £20,000 (and in 1997). It is awarded for a novel first
published between 1st October and 30th September in the year of the
award. In 1999 it was £21,000. Each of the judges is expected to read
well over 100 books for a fee of £3000. In 2003 it became the Man Booker
Prize. The archive is held at Oxford Brookes University. In 2005 the
Man Booker International Prize was inaugurated.

BORROW, GEORGE HENRY
Author and Traveller who had an ear for languages. Became agent of the
British & Foreign Bible Society. Married Mary Clarke in 1840

BOSWELL, JAMES
Lawyer and writer. Married Margaret Montgomerie in 1769. The Boswell
papers were discovered at Malahide Castle in Scotland and sold to Yale
University in 1949. He is buried at Auchinleck House

BOWEN, ELIZABETH (DOROTHEA COLE)
Novelist & short story writer. Spent much of her early life living
with relatives in England because of her father's ill-health. Married
Alan Cameron 1923

BOWLES, WILLIAM LISLE
Poet, Antiquary & Critic. Married Madgaden Wake in 1797. He achieved
fame by calling Alexander Pope a second rank poet which provoked a war
of words which even included Byron

BRADDON, MARY ELIZABETH
Sensation Novelist (probably the most successful Victorian woman in
terms of sales) Poet, & Editor. Her books earned £2000 each in the
1860's. In 1861 she began living with the publisher John Maxwell (his
wife was confined to a lunatic asylum) and then married him in 1874.
She was stepmother to his five children and then had children of her own
with him

BRONTE, CHARLOTTE
Novelist. Married one of her father's curates, Rev Arthur Bell Nicholls
in 1854. She died from TB after only nine months of marriage. Nicholls
lived with Rev Patrick Bronte until he died in 1865. He returned to
Ireland and lived until 1906

BROWNING, ELIZABETH BARRETT
Poet. Spinal injury in a fall from a pony meant she never went to
school. Secretly married Robert Browning in 1846. Her father never saw
her again. They lived in Italy. Died of TB in her husband's arms and is
buried in Florence.

BROWNING, ROBERT
Poet. Secretly married and eloped with Elizabeth Barrett in 1846. They
lived in Pisa, Florence and Venice. After Elizabeth's death in 1861 he
settled in London. Died of pneumonia in Venice. Buried in Westminster
Abbey

BUNYAN, JOHN
Religious writer. Son a tinker. Drafted into military service in 1644.
Became pastor of Baptist church in Bedford in 1655. Arrested in 1660 for
preaching without a licence, he was imprisoned at Bedford, where he
wrote 6 books. Released 1672 but put back in prison 3 years later

BURNETT, FRANCES ELIZA HODGSON
Novelist. Involved in Christian Science, Theosophy and Spiritualism.
Emigrated with her family to the USA in 1865. Married Dr Swan Burnett
1873 (divorced 1898). Married Stephen Townsend (divorced 1901)

BURNS, ROBERT
Poet. Having got Jean pregnant he was pursued by her father and so he
planned to escape to America. But his first book of poems made him money
and famous. Married Jean Armour in 1788. He farmed and was an excise
officer, but when his farm failed he moved to Dumfries. Hard drinking
led to endocarditis of which he died

BURROUGHS, EDGAR RICE
Novelist (esp science fiction, westerns, detectives, historical and
adventure books). His books have sold well in excess of 36 million
copies

BURTON, SIR RICHARD FRANCIS
Traveller, Explorer, Translator and writer. Married Isabel Arundell
(1831-96). Explored Somaliland (1854), the Nile (1856-9) and in North
America in 1860. British Consul in Brazil (1864-9), Damascus (1869-71),
Trieste (1872-5). On the night of his death Isabel burned all his
unpublished notes and 41 unpublished MSS, hoping to preserve her
husband's reputation

BUTLER, GWENDOLINE
Crime Novelist. Married Lionel Butler, Professor of Medieval History at St Andrews, in 1949

BYRON, GEORGE GORDON NOEL, LORD
Romantic Poet. Lame from birth. Married heiress Anne Isabella Milbanke
in 1815 (she left him 1816). Spent much of his life travelling in Spain,
Portugal, Italy, Turkey & Greece. Ostracised from England for
having an incestuous affair with Augusta Leigh, his half-sister. Fought
with the Greeks against the Turks. Died in Greece of malaria (or
rheumatic fever)

C

CAINE, SIR THOMAS HENRY HALL
Novelist, Playwright & Non-Fiction writer. Phenomenally successful,
made a fortune from his novels. Left school at 14 to join an architect's
office but left in 1870 to live in the Isle of Man and help his
schoolteacher uncle.He moved back to Liverpool and began to write. He made pregnant in 1884 Mary Chandler (aged 14) and later married her

CERVANTES, SAAVEDRA MIGUEL DE
Novelist & Dramatist. Only two of his plays survive. Enlisted in the
army of Philip II. Captured by Barbary pirates in 1575 he was ransomed
in 1580. Back in Madrid he took up dreary administrative posts, was
imprisoned for debt many times,

CHAPBOOKS
The best collections are in the British Museum, Bodleian Library &
Cambridge University Library. Harvard College Library has a fine
collection

CHAUCER, GEOFFREY
The first great English Poet, the father of English Poetry (Dryden).
Married Philippa de Roet c 1366. Page at court to Elizabeth, Countess of
Ulster. Squire and apprentice knight serving in France with Edward III.
Controller of the Wool Custom in London 1374-86. In Parliament as
Knight of Kent. Royal Clerk of Works under Richard II. Buried in
Westminster Abbey

CHESTERTON, GILBERT KEITH
Essayist, Novelist, and poet. Became a Catholic in 1922. Also a
competent amateur artist who illustrated several books by Hilaire
Belloc. Married Frances Blogg in 1901. From 1909 to 1935 he lived at
Overroads in Beaconsfield

CHEYNEY, PETER
Novelist and Crime novelist. Badly wounded at the 2nd Battle of the Somme in WW1

CLARE, JOHN
Labourer who became a poet. Married Martha Turner in 1820. Spent the
last 27 years of his life in asylums and died in St Andrew's County
Asylum, Northampton

COBBETT, WILLIAM
Political Writer, Reformer, Writer on Agriculture and traveller. Founded
the Weekly Political Register (1802-35), and The Porcupine (violently
anti-French). He became a bookseller in Philadelphia and in London

COLLINS, WILLIAM WILKIE
Practically the first English novelist to deal with the detection of
crime. Son of William Collins, the landscape painter. Creator of
Sergeant Cuff. He never married but Caroline Graves was his constant
companion. Addicted to opium from 1862

COLUM, PADRAIC
Poet, Novelist, Biographer and Dramatist. Married Mary Maguire in 1912,
they went to the USA 1914 and remained there for the rest of their lives

COMBE, WILLIAM
Satirical Poet, Hack writer, Translator, Ghost writer, Editor, a
fabricator of letters (esp those to or by Laurence Sterne). Employed as a
propagandist by the Pitt Govt from 1788-1806. Married Maria Foster in
1777 & Charlotte Hadfield in 1795. He was imprisoned for debt on
more than one occasion

CONRAD, JOSEPH TEODOR JOZEF KO
Novelist. Parents exiled to France for political reasons. Became a
seaman in Marseilles in 1874, and in 1878 joined the British Merchant
Navy, becoming a Master Mariner in 1886, the same year he adopted
British citizenship. In 1893 he left the Navy and began to write.
Married Jessie George in 1896. He died of a heart attack at his home in
Kent

COOKSON, CATHERINE
Best selling novelist. In 1940 married Thomas Henry Cookson, a teacher.
In 1994 she was the most borrowed author from UK libraries

CORELLI, MARIE
Romantic novelist. By 1895 it was rumoured she was earning £10,000 per
novel. For a short while, in terms of sales, she was the most popular
novelist in Britain. She bought a home in Stratford so as to compare
herself with Shakespeare and succeeded in becoming known as 'The Swan of
Avon'. Died of heart disease

COWPER, WILLIAM
Religious poet & Hymn Writer. Lived with the minister Morley Unwin
from 1765, and with Mary Unwin once her husband had died in 1767.
Suffered mentally from 1763 and was finally confined in an asylum at St
Albans

CRAIK, DINAH MARIA MULOCK
Novelist, Poet & Essayist. Married George Lillie Craik, a partner
in Macmillan publishing house, in 1865. Died of a Heart attack

CRANE, WALTER
Book Illustrator, textile, card and calendar designer. Apprenticed to a
London wood engraving firm, subsequently forming a successful
partnership with the printer, Edmund Evans. Shared William Morris's
artistic and political beliefs.

CRAWFORD, FRANCIS MARION
Novelist. Brother of Mrs Hugh Fraser. Reputedly spoke 16 languages and
travelled extensively. He was the most successful American novelist of
his time. Married Elizabeth Berdan in 1884. He lived in Sorrento from
1885

CREASEY, JOHN
The most prolific Crime Novelist ever. He wrote over 560 mysteries,
thrillers, Westerns and Action Books. Creator of Commander George
Gideon. He used over 20 pseudonyms. Founded the Crime Writer's Assoc in
1953. He married four times

CREELEY, ROBERT WHITE
Poet of the Black Mountain group. Novelist & storywriter. Lost the
use of his left eye in an accident before he was five years old. Married
Ann MacKinnon in 1946 (divorced 1955), Bobbie Hawkins in 1957 divorced
1976) & Penelope Highton in 1977. Died of Pneumonia

CROMWELL, OLIVER
Puritan Soldier, Statesman and writer. Married Elizabeth Bourchier in
1620. When war broke out in 1642 he was recognised as the leading force
in Parliament. Became Commander-in-Chief in 1650 and Lord Protector in
1656. He died of a fever. In 1661 his body was disinterred and hanged on
the gallows at Tyburn

CROWLEY, EDWARD ALEISTER
Novelist, poet and author of books on the occult & witchcraft. He
climbed in the Alps and led expeditions to K2 and Kanchenjunga in 1902
& 1905 respectively. Founded his own order, the Silver Star, and was
subsequently expelled from Italy after rumours of drugs, orgies and
death rites

CRUIKSHANK, GEORGE
Caricaturist and book illustrator. Strong supporter of the Temperance movement

CUNDALL, JOSEPH
Writer, Photographer & London publisher, esp of children's books. He
employed many of the best artists of the day as illustrators. Married
Sarah Ranson in 1845 (d.1868) & Emily Anne Thompson (d.1911). At his
death he left £1142 10s 9d

CUSTER, GENERAL GEORGE ARMSTRONG
Cavalry commander in the American West. Killed at the Battle of Little
Bighorn in June 1876 when the Sioux overhwhelmed 264 cavalrymen.
Following his death his wife Elizabeth (1842-1933) wrote books about
their life together

DOMESDAY BOOK
Compiled in 1086, it was mainly a valuation of land and a register of who owned it.

DONNE, JOHN
Metaphysical poet and preacher. In 1601 entered parliament as MP for Brackley and married Ann More the same year

DOUGLAS, GEORGE NORMAN
Novelist & Travel writer. Made his home on the isle of Capri in the Mediterranean. Committed suicide.

DOYLE, RICHARD
Writer and book illustrator. Wrote and designed for Punch. Designed its cover. Son of John Doyle, who trained him

DRYDEN, JOHN
Poet and Dramatist. Married Lady Elizabeth Howard in 1663. Hostile to
revolution of 1688 and thereafter mainly translated classics. Made Poet
Laureate in 1668 (to 1688) for his adherence to the Stewart restoration.
The family home from the 1550s was Canons Ashby, Daventry. Buried in
Westminster Abbey

E

EDGEWORTH, MARIA
Novelist & Children's Writer. Daughter of Richard Lovell Edgeworth,
Irish Landowner and MP. She lived on, was agent & secretary of, the
family estate of Edgeworthstown in Ireland from the age of 15 until her
death

EMERSON, RALPH WALDO
Poet and essayist. Member of transcendentalist group of thinkers.
Married Ellen Tucker 1829 (d. of TB 1831). Travelled in Europe 1832-3.
Became a public lecturer on his return to America. 1835 married Lydia
Jackson.

F

FARJEON, ELEANOR
Children's writer & Poet. Jewish. Friend of Edward Thomas
(1878-1917). Had a liaison with the scholar George Earle for over 30
years although he was already married. Became a Catholic 1951

FAULKNER, WILLIAM HARRISON
Novelist whose work depicts the American south. Nobel Prize 1949. Died probably from years of smoking and drinking

FEARN, JOHN FRANCIS RUSSELL
Science Fiction Novelist & writer of Westerns (36 between 1947 &
1956). Married Carrie Worth in 1956. He died of a heart attack

FIELDING, HENRY
Novelist & playwright. Lived a life of excess. Married the wealthy
Charlotte Cradock of Salisbury in 1734, and went through her money in 3
years. Plagued by gout and dropsy he went to Lisbon for his health but
died there after two months

FLEMING, IAN LANCASTER
Novelist. Brother of Peter Fleming. Attached to Naval Intelligence in
WW2. Married Anne Charteris (formerly Lady Rothermere) in 1952. Built
his own house 'Goldeneye' in Jamaica. Died following heart problems

FOLIO SOCIETY
The Folio Society Ltd was founded in 1947 by Alan Bott, Charles Ede
& Christopher Sandford. It sold books by mail order, offering a gift
presentation volume as an inducement. It was based at 1-5 Poland
Street, Oxford Street, W1 in 1950

FORD, FORD MADOX
Novelist, poet, critic and editor. Changed his name in 1919. Founded and
edited the "London Review" and later, in Paris the "Transatlantic
Review". Married Elizabeth Martindale in 1894

FORESTER, CECIL SCOTT
Novelist. Married Katherine Belcher in 1926, divorced 1944. He remarried
in 1947 (Dorothy Foster) and moved to Berkeley, California but was
confined to a wheelchair with arteriosclerosis

FOULIS, T N
Edinburgh publishing house founded in 1903 by Thomas and Douglas A
Foulis. By 1905 it had adopted the title of T N Foulis and was based at 3
Frederick Street. The firm slumped during WW1 and in 1924 was taken
over by G T Marshall (Henley printers). The new company was called G T
Foulis & Co

FRASER, CLAUD LOVAT
Artist, Book Illustrator & Decorator, Theatre designer. Invalided out of the Army following being gassed at Loos, in WW1

FREEMAN, RICHARD AUSTIN
Novelist of scientific detective stories. Created the character of Dr
John Thorndyke. Married Annie Edwards in 1887. Held medical appointments
in West Africa before returning to England. Took up full-time writing
in 1905 when he had to retire from medicine through ill-health. A member
of the council of the Eugenics Society

FROST, ROBERT LEE
Poet & author, especially of the New England rural scene. He married
his childhood sweetheart, Elinor White in 1895, but of their children -
one died young, one committed suicide and one ended up in an
institution. Frost moved to England in 1912 and stayed for 3 years.

G

GALSWORTHY, JOHN
Novelist and playwright. Nobel Prize for Literature 1932. Married Ada
Cooper, the divorced wife of his cousin in 1905, after they had had an
affair. Refused a knighthood in 1918

GALT, JOHN
Novelist, Biographer & Poet. Became an unsuccessful merchant in
London before travelling (for his health) in the Levant. Went to Canada
1826-9

GARDNER, ERLE STANLEY
Novelist. The most published American mystery author of his time (over
100 million books sold in his lifetime). Creator of Miss Bertha Cool
& Perry Mason. Married Natalie Talbert in 1912, and when she died,
Agnes Bethell in 1968

GASKELL, ELIZABETH CLEGHORN
Novelist. Unitarian. Home Educated. Brought up by an aunt in Knutsford,
Cheshire. Married Manchester clergyman, William Gaskell, 1832. Met
Charlotte Bronte in 1850 and began a firm friendship

GAY, JOHN
Poet and author. Bad with money he made and lost a fortune in the South
Sea Bubble stock. On his death he was probably worth £3000. Buried in
Westminster Abbey

GIBBINGS, ROBERT JOHN
Writer, illustrator and wood engraver. Bought the Golden Cockerel Press
from Harold Taylor in 1924, but was forced to sell it (to Christopher
Sandford et al) during the depressed 1930's, in 1933. Shot in the throat
at Gallipoli he was inavlided out as a Captain

GILL, ARTHUR ERIC ROWTON
Sculptor, Engraver, Typographer, Writer and book illustrator. Married
Ethel "Mary" Moore in 1904. They formed the nucleus of an artistic
community at Ditchling in Sussex. Became a Catholic 1913, joining the
Third Order of St Dominic. Gill kept a continuous diary from the age of
15 in which he recorded what he made, earned and spent, as well as all
his sexual conquests. The diaries ran to 40 volumes

GISSING, GEORGE ROBERT
Novelist whose work deals with the degrading effects of poverty.
Convicted and imprisoned for petty theft. friends sent him to America
where he enedd up destitute in Chicago. Married Marianne Harrison in
1879 and then Alice Underwood in 1891. He separated from them both.
Moved to France with Gabrielle Fleury in 1898 and he died of pneumonia
in the south of France

GODDEN, MARGARET RUMER
Novelist, Playwright & Poet. Childhood in India. Catholic. Married
Lawrence Sinclair Foster, a stockbroker, in 1934. When he became
bankrupt in 1941 he left her. Married James Lesley Haynes Dixon in 1949
and returned to live in Rye.

GODWIN, WILLIAM
Political thinker, Biographer, Journalist & Novelist. Married Mary
Wollstencraft who died giving birth to Mary (Shelley's 2nd wife). With
his second wife Mary Jane Clairmont (1766-1841) they published childrens
books (from 1805), esp by the Lambs. Became bankrupt 1822

GOLDEN COCKEREL PRESS
In 1950 it was owned by Christopher Sandford & based at 1-5 Poland
Street, Oxford St, W1. By 1994 it was based at 25 Sicilian Avenue,
London WC1 and its two imprints were Associated Universities Presses
& Cornwall Books

GOLDSMITH, OLIVER
Poet, dramatist and novelist. Disfigured aged 8 by smallpox. Travelled
on the Continent (1753-6) before settling in London. Joined the circle
of Dr Johnson. Lost money at the gaming tables. Died after taking a
large dose of James's Powders.

GRAHAM, ROBERT BONTINE CUNNINGHAME
Adventurer, story and travel writer. He travelled extensively in South
America, hoping to make his fortune. He failed. In 1879 he married the
Chilean poet, Gabriela de la Balmondiere

GRAHAME, KENNETH
Writer of Children's books. Married Elspeth Thomson in 1899. Died of a brain Haemorrhage

GRANT, MAXWELL
Novelist of mystery works. He also wrote books under his own name on games, psychic phenomena, true crime, puzzles and magic

GRAVES, ROBERT VON RANKE
Writer, author and poet. Son of the Irish Writer Alfred Perceval Graves
& Amalia von Ranke. Married Nancy Nicholson. In 1929 he settled at
Deya in Majorca with the poet Laura Riding. He left Majorca in 1936 and
met and married Beryl Pritchard (1915-2003)

GRAY, THOMAS
Poet. Spent most his life in Cambridge colleges. Travelled with Horace Walpole on the Continent 1739-41

GREENE, HENRY GRAHAM
Novelist, journalist and playwright. Converted to Catholicism 1926.
Married Vivienne Dayrell-Browning 1927, but during their 67 years of
marriage he had many affairs (with Catherine Walston, Dorothy Glover,
Anita Bjork & Yvonne Cloetta). His papers are in Georgetown
University

HALL, JOSEPH
Poet and Religious Writer. Married Elizabeth Winiffe in 1603. As a
bishop he complained about such posts being excluded from Parliament,
and for his pains he was imprisoned in the Tower of London and stripped
of his bishopric when he was finally released in 1647

HALLIDAY, BRETT
Novelist. Creator of Mike Shayne. A childhood accident meant he had to
wear an eye patch for the the rest of his life. Enlisted in the US
Cavalry aged 14 ! In 1953 he founded the Torquil Publishing Co with his
first wife (they married 1946 & divorced 1961). Then married Helen
McCloy, Kathleen Rollins, and finally Mary Savage

HANLEY, JAMES
Novelist, Playwright & Short Story Writer. Brother of Gerald Hanley

HARDY, THOMAS
Novelist & poet. Articled to an ecclesiastical architect 1856-61,
and worked for a architect 1862-7. Married Emma Gifford in 1874 (she
died 1912) and then Florence Dugdale in 1914. Buried in Westminster
Abbey

HAYWOOD, ELIZA FOWLER
Novelist & Playwright. Married the Rev Valentine Haywood in 1711,
but by 1721 she had left him and was living in London, working as a
writer and actress. She ran her own publishing business for a while in
the 1740s

HAZLITT, WILLIAM
Essayist and critic. Family moved to America 1783-1787. Returned and
settled at Wem, in Shropshire. Married Sarah Stoddart in 1808. Married
Isabella Bridgewater in 1824. Died of dysentry or cancer

HEARN, PATRICIO LAFCADIO
Novelist, Orientalist, Philosopher & Travel Writer. Father was a
Surgeon in the British Army and mother Greek. Emigrated to America in
1869, and then Martinique. In 1890 he moved to Japan, married into a
Samurai family and became a Japanese citizen with the name of Koizumi
Yakumo

HENTY, GEORGE ALFRED
Writer of boy's adventure stories. Blackie printed 3.5 million of his
titles. Married Elizabeth Finucane in 1857 (d.1965) & Elizabeth
Keylock (c1889). He edited the 'Union Jack' 1880-3 and 'Beeton's Boys'
Own Magazine' 1888-90. He died on board his yacht moored in Weymouth
harbour

HOLMES, OLIVER WENDELL
Man of letters, novelist, story writer, biographer & poet.
Anti-Calvinist. He also wrote a number of books on medicine and surgery.
Married Amelia Jackson in 1840

HOOD, THOMAS
Poet, humorist, editor and punster. Married Jane Reynolds 1824. Fled to
Germany in 1835 to escape his creditors. Returned 1840, receiving a
civil pension in 1844. For most of his life he struggled with TB

HOWITT, MARY
Writer of books on natural history, esp for children & Poet. Brought
up a Quaker. Married William Howitt in 1821. She translated many of
Hans Christian Andersen's tales in 1846 and also Frederika Bremer

HUDSON, WILLIAM HENRY
Novelist, Travel writer and on rural life. Came to Britain 1874. Married Emily Wingrave in 1876.

HUGHES, TED (EDWARD JAMES)
Poet. Poet Laureate from 1984. Married Sylvia Plath in 1956 (committed
suicide 1963). In 1970 he married Carol Orchard. Died of cancer

HUXLEY, THOMAS HENRY
Scientist & Surgeon. Went on the Expedition in HMS Rattlesnake to
survey the waters of New Guinea and Australia in 1847-50. A champion of
Darwin and inventor of the term 'agnostic'

HUXLEY, ALDOUS LEONARD
Novelist and writer. Son of Leonard Huxley. Brother of Julian Huxley.
Married Maria (an active bisexual) in 1919. He was six feet four and a
half inches tall ! From 1937 he lived in the USA

I

IRVING, WASHINGTON
Essayist & Historian. Never married. Collaborated with his brother
and a friend on a periodical entitled "Salmagundi". Left America in 1815
and travelled for the next 17 years, especially in Europe

JEFFERIES, JOHN RICHARD
Naturalist of poetic perceptions. Novelist. Married Jessie Baden in
1874. Championed the cause of the depressed agricultural labourer. Died
after a long and painful illness

JOHNS, CAPT W E (WILLIAM EARL)
Writer of stories for boys and girls. Painter of aviation pictures.
Joined Territorial Army and fought during WW1, transferred to the Royal
Flying Corps 1917. Shot down and imprisoned (although some say he in
fact crashed his plane as he was a useless flyer) he stayed in the RAF
until 1927, leaving as a Flying Officer. Separated from his wife in
1921, met Doris Leigh in 1924, and lived with her for the rest of his
life

JOHNSON, SAMUEL
Lexicographer and man of letters. His father owned a bookshop in
Lichfield. Focus of London literary life of his day. Married Elizabeth
Porter in 1735. Buried in Westminster Abbey

JONES, DAVID
Poet and artist. became a Catholic 1921. Went to live with Eric Gill at
Ditchling. Illustrated for the St Dominic's Press 1923-4. Engaged to
Gill's daughter, Petra, they never married and he remained single after
she married Denis Tegetmeier

KELMSCOTT PRESS, THE
Established by William Morris in 1891. Morris designed three types,
Golden (1890), Troy (1891) and Chaucer (1892) and published all his
books using special handmade paper and inks. In total the Press
published some 17,565 volumes. When published they would have cost
£143.35 for the lot. At current values they are worth between £45,625
and £72,050 (1995)

KINGSTON, WILLIAM HENRY GILES
Novelist. Grew up in Oporto, Portugal where his father had business interests. Wrote 125 stories of the sea for boys

KIPLING, JOSEPH RUDYARD
Novelist. Nobel Prize 1907. Married an American, Caroline Balestier in
1892. His only son was killed in First WW at Loos, and his daughter
Josephine died in childhood from pneumonia. He died from a duodenal
ulcer. Two biographers have him as secretly homosexual. Buried in
Westminster Abbey

LAMB, CHARLES
Essayist & Poet. Clerk in E India offices. Devoted life to sister
Mary. Unstable. Wrote letters. Died from erysipelas after falling on a
walk. Associated with the Lake Poets. Wrote many of his pieces for "The
London Magazine" as Elia

LANDOR, WALTER SAVAGE
Writer and Poet. Married Julia Thuillier in 1811 (they separated in
1835). He inherited money and lived in many different places and
countries in Europe. He was published by 28 different publishers between
1795 & 1863. He died in Italy

LANG, ANDREW
Man of letters, also wrote poems, fairy-tales and fiction. Trans Homer
and Theocritus. Authority on folk-lore. Married Leonora Alleyne in 1875
and became a freelance writer

LAWRENCE, DAVID HERBERT
Poet, Painter and novelist. Miner's son. Playwright. 1912 eloped with
Frieda Weekley, the German wife of his former languages tutor. They
married 1914. They travelled extensively and built a ranch at Taos in
New Mexico. Died in Vence, south of France, of TB. Lawrence claimed that
his work sprang as much from Frieda as it did from himself

LAWRENCE, THOMAS EDWARD
Writer. Worked an archaeological digs in Syria, Mesopotamia, Egupt &
Sinai 1910-14. Joined British Intelligence and from 1916 organised the
Arabs in a revolt against the Turks. In 1922 he enlisted in the RAF
under the name of Ross. When found out he was discharged and the
rejoined as T E Shaw and stayed in until 1935. Killed in an accident on
his Brough motor-cycle

LE GALLIENNE, RICHARD THOMAS
Poet & Essayist. In 1891 married Mildred Lee (she died 1894 of
typhoid). Moved to the USA in 1903 where he later married the actress
Irma Hinton Perry, and they settled in the south of France in 1928

LE QUEUX, WILLIAM TUFNELL
Novelist who was obsessed with spies and promoting Patriotism (and thus
anti-German feeling) before the First World War. After the War most of
his novels were crime based. Travelled widely in North Africa, the
Balkans, the Arctic and the Sudan

LEAR, EDWARD
Poet and illustrator. Working as an illustrator from age of 15.
Draughtsman with the Zoological Society from 1831. Drawing master to the
Earl of Derby's children 1832-6. Toured extensively in Italy, Greece,
Albania, Malta, Egypt, Holy Land, India, Ceylon. Died in San Remo

LEECH, JOHN
Book illustrator, esp of R S Surtees's work & Caricaturist

LESSING, DORIS MAY
Poet, Novelist, Playwright and short story writer. Lived on a farm in
Rhodesia 1924-49 before settling in England. Married Frank Charles
Wisdom 1939 (divorced 1943). Married Gottfried Lessing 1945 (divorced
1949)

LEVER, CHARLES JAMES
Novelist. Travelled in Europe 1822-7. Married Kate Barker in 1832 or 1833. Lived most of his life on the Continent

LEWIS, PERCY WYNDHAM
Novelist, poet & artist. Travelled in Europe becoming close friend
of Augustus John. Returning to England in 1909 he became a professional
apinter. In 1914 founded the Vorticist Movement and edited its paper
Blast for the only two issues. Went blind in 1953

LIVINGSTONE, DAVID
Medical missionary and explorer. Went to South Africa 1841 with the
London Missionary Society. In 1853-4 he crossed Africa from west to
east. Lead the Zambesi Expedition in 1858-64 in search for the source of
the Nile. Crusader against the slave trade in Africa. Married Mary
Moffat

MACDONALD, GEORGE
Poet & Novelist. First Editor of the magazine Good Words for the
Young. Awarded a Civil List pension in 1877 by Queen Victoria

MACDONALD, JOHN DANN
Novelist. Wrote 65 novels, selling over 70 million copies. Also had 500 stories published in magazines.

MACHEN, ARTHUR
Novelist & Writer. Married Amelia Hogg in 1887 (she died of cancer
in 1899) & Dorothy Hudlestone in 1903. In London he worked as a
publisher's clerk and tutor, catalogued occult books and did
translations. From 1929 he lived in Amersham, Bucks, dying in a nursing
home in Beaconsfield. He rarely made any money from his writing but has
been very influential on horror fiction in the UK and America

MACKENZIE, SIR COMPTON
Novelist, Biographer, Essayist & critic. Captain in Royal Marines in
WW1 and became Director of the Aegean Intelligence Service. Married
Faith Stone in 1905, Christina MacSween in 1962 & her sister Lilian
MacSween in 1965. For many years lived on the Isle of Barra, where he
is buried.

MACLEISH, ARCHIBALD
Poet and dramatist. Married Ada Hitchcock in 1916. Lived in Europe 1923-8. Editor of Fortune Magazine in New York 1929-38

MANN, THOMAS
Novelist. Left Germany 1933 for Switzerland, then moved to USA (became a
US citizien in 1944) with his brother Heinrich. Nobel Prize 1929.
Although probably homosexual in 1905 he married Katja Pringsheim. Two of
his sisters and one of his sons committed suicide

MARTINEAU, HARRIET
Writer, Journalist (may have been the first female journalist) &
Novelist. Involved in Unitarian Movement. Remained single. Deaf, plus no
sense of smell or taste. Contributed to the Edinburgh Review and wrote
over 1600 articles for the Daily News (1851-1866). From 1845 until her
death she lived in Ambleside

MASEFIELD, JOHN (EDWARD)
Poet and novelist. Went to America aged 17 and worked at various jobs
until 1897 when he returned to England. Married Constance de la Cherois
Crommelin, a schoolteacher, in 1903. From 1909-10 he had a passionate
affair with Elizabeth Robins and supported women's suffrage. Poet
Laureate 1930-1967

MAUGHAM, WILLIAM SOMERSET
Novelist and short story writer. Homosexual. Married Syrie Wellcome in
1917 but the couple lived apart & divorced in 1928. His companion
for most of his life was his secretary, Gerald Haxton (1892-1944) who
had been prosecuted, but acquitted of an act of gross indecency in a
London hotel. They lived on the French Riviera from 1928. After Haxton's
death he lived with Alan Searle (1904-85)

MAYNE, WILLIAM
Children's writer. Single living in the Yorkshire Dales. Composes music. Imprisoned for 2 years in 2004 for paedophilia

MEADE, L T
Novelist for girls. Wrote over 300 books. Lived in England from 1874.
Married Alfred Toulmin Smith, a solicitor, in 1879 and they settled in
London. Edited the magazine Atlanta for 6 years. Collaborated with
Robert Eustace (a pseudonym for Dr Eustace Robert Barton) in five
science fiction books (1898-1902) and with Clifford Halifax (a pesudonym
for Dr Edgar Beaumont) on six crime novels

MELVILLE, HERMAN
Novelist & poet. In 1839 he shipped as a cabin boy to Liverpool and
later sailed for the South Seas on the whaler "Acushnet" (1841). Jumping
ship he had many experiences in the islands of the Pacific and returned
to New York to write about them. Married Elizabeth Shaw in 1847

MEREDITH, GEORGE
Novelist, Journalist & poet. Married Mary Nicolls, a widow in 1849.
She deserted him in 1858 and in 1864 he married Marie Vulliamy

MILLAR, HAROLD R
Painter & Illustrator who worked for Strand magazine, for which he
illustrated stories by E Nesbit. His work appeared in Little Folks (1890
Cassell)

MILLER, ARTHUR
Jewish Playwright, Novelist & Short Story Writer. Married Mary
Slattery in 1940 & Marilyn Monroe in 1956 (divorced 1961). He was
brought before the House Committee on Un-American Acitivities in the
1950s but refused to name names. In 1962 he married Ingeborg Morath

MITFORD, MARY RUSSELL
Novelist, Playwright, Essayist & Poet. In 1797 she won a lottery
prize of £20,000 that made her family financially secure for many years.
From 1820 she lived the rest of her life in the Berkshire village of
Three Mile Cross

MOORE, GEORGE AUGUSTUS
Novelist & prose Writer. Wealthy upbringing, inheriting his father's
12,000 acre estate in Co Mayo. Became a Protestant and preferred to
live in Sussex

MOORE, THOMAS
Romantic Poet, and Biographer. National songwriter of Ireland. Married Bessie Dyke, an actress, in 1811

MORISON, STANLEY
Writer on Typography and Printing. Book designer. On the staff of The
Times, typographical adviser to CUP and the Monotype Corporation.
Designed the Times Roman Font & Gollancz jackets in 1930's

MORRIS, WILLIAM
Poet and Craftsman. 1859 married Jane Burden. Established the Kelmscott
(named after his house, Kelmscott Manor, near Lechlade) Press in 1890.
Helped form the Socialist League in 1884

NEW YORKER, THE
Magazine first issued on 21st February, 1925. Founded and edited by
Harold Wallace Ross (b1892 in the Rockies, died 1951). He was succeeded
by William Shawn

NEWBERY, JOHN
Publisher & Bookseller. Began publishing in Reading (possibly with a
partner called Micklewright) in 1740 (where he owned the Reading
Mercury) and moved to London in 1744. The first publisher to produce
children's books. Branched out into newspapers, magazines & a
manufacturer of patent medicines. Published the periodical "The Public
Ledger".

NIGHTINGALE, FLORENCE
Nurse and writer. Single. In 1853 Superintendent of a hospital for
invalid women in London. She volunteered for the Crimean War, taking 38
nurses to Scutari in 1854. By her mothods she drastically reduced the
mortality rate in the hospital. £5000 was raised for her to establish a
training hospital for nurses at St Thomas's & at King's College
Hospital

NISTER, ERNEST
Printer & Publisher based in Nuremberg. Set up a London office in1888 under the direction of the writer Robert Ellice Mack

NOBEL
, ALFRED BERNHARD
Industrialist who created a Dynamite empire (his fortune was estimated
at £2m on his death) and created the Nobel Prizes in 1901 (there are
five prizes in all - Literature, Physics, Chemistry, Medicine &
Peace). In 1998 each Prize was worth £600,000 (although they amount
varies from year to year)

NONESUCH PRESS, THE
Private Press set up in 1923 by Sir Francis Meynell. At Standard Road,
Park Royal Road, London NW10 in 1950. By 1994 it was part of Reinhardt
Books Ltd

NOYES, ALFRED
Poet who, unusually, managed to live by his poetry (only Tennyson had
achieved this previously). Married Garnet Daniels in 1907 (died 1926)
& Mary Wild-Blundell in 1927. Became a Catholic in 1927

O

OBSERVER BOOKS
Small format books published by Frederick Warne from 1937

OLIPHANT, MARGARET
Prolific Novelist (nearly 100), biographer, travel writer, and writer of
ghost & short stories Presbyterian. Home educated. Married 1852 to
her cousin Francis Wilson Oliphant. When he died of TB in 1869 she began
writing in earnest to pay the bills. Died of cancer

OPPENHEIM, EDWARD PHILIPS
Novelist (over 160). He wrote and published approx 13 million words,
making him one of the most prolific writers of all time. A number of
early books were pirated in the US, given new titles and attributed to
other authors. Married American Elise Hopkins in 1890

ORWELL, GEORGE
Novelist, Satirist & essayist. Fought and was wounded in the Spanish
Civil War. Lived on Jura 1946-1949. After his first wife died he
married Sonia Brownell (1918-1980) in 1949. Within 3 months Orwell was
dead of TB. He is buried at Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire

PATMORE, COVENTRY KERSEY DIGHTON
Poet & Essayist. Married Emily Augusta Andrews in 1847 (she died
1862). Became a Catholic in 1864. In same year married Marianne Caroline
Byles (d. 1880). Married for third time in 1881 to Harriet Robson. He
died of angina

PEAKE, MERVYN LAWRENCE
Novelist & Illustrator. Parents medical missionaries. In 1933 he
moved live to Sark, where he lived in a colony of artists for 2 years.
Married Maeve Gilmore 1937. Suffered a nervous breakdown during wartime
military service. Died after a long illness (Parkinson's Disease)

PELICAN BOOKS
Non-fiction books issued by Penguin Books from May 1937. By 1938 each new volume was issued in a print run of 50.000 +

PENGUIN BOOKS : HISTORY
Publishers founded in 1935 by Allen Lane in the crypt of Holy Trinity
Church, Euston Rd. Near the end of 1937 they moved to new premises at
Harmondsworth, Middlesex. became a public company in 1956. In 1997 at 27
Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ. Owned in 1997 by Pearson Media Group

PHILLPOTTS, EDEN
Novelist (much of his work was based around Dartmoor), Playwright &
Poet. Published over 250 books. Married Emily Topham in 1892 & Lucy
Webb in 1929

PHIZ
Watercolourist & Illustrator, especially of Charles Dickens novels
(after death of Robert Seymour). Married Miss Reynolds in 1840. An
illness (probably polio) in 1867 left him partially blind and paralysed.

PIPER, JOHN EGERTON
Writer & Artist. Married Eileen Holding & in Myfanwy Evans (who in 1937 became his second wife)

PLAIDY, JEAN
Historical novelist. Married G P Hibbert. It is said she used 17 or more pseudonyms.

POE, EDGAR ALLAN
Poet & Story Writer. Married his cousin Virginia Clemm in 1836 (she
was 13 at the time). They lived in poverty in New York and Virginia died
in 1837. Creator of Le Chevalier C Auguste Dupin. Died of
alcohol-related disease, or possibly rabies

POGANY, WILLY
Illustrator. Lived in London 1906-1914 and then went to USA where the
quality of his work declined. Worked as a set designer on several
classic films, incl Boris Karloff's "The Mummy"

POPE, ALEXANDER
Poet & Satirist. Lame from birth. Roman Catholic (this prevented
education at any high level and thus he was largely self-educated) &
Tory. Translating Homer and Editing editions of Shakespeare gave him a
very modest income. Settled in Twickenham in 1718

POTTER, (HELEN) BEATRIX
Children's writer. C of E. Engaged to Norman Warne (son of the
publisher) but he died. She spent more time in the Lake District and
married solicitor, William Heelis in 1913. Her books made the publishers
Warne very wealthy and successful. After 1913 she wrote less, turning
her time to breeding sheep and farming. Over 4000 acres were bequeathed
to the National Trust. The Beatrix Potter Gallery at Hawkshead displays
many of her original illustrations

POUND, EZRA WESTON LOOMIS
Imagist Poet & Writer. Married Dorothy Shakespear in 1914. Noted for
his translations of Provencal, Latin, Chinese, French & Italian
poets. Supported Franco in Spanish Civil War. Lived in London 1908-20,
Paris 1920-4 & Rapallo, Italy 1924-45. From 1946 to 1958 he was held
on a treason charge in a mental asylum near Washington DC, for making
radio broadcasts supporting Mussolini during the war. Founder, with
Wyndham Lewis, of "Blast" in 1914

PUSHKIN, ALEXANDER SERGEYEVICH
Wrote in many forms - lyrical poetry, narrative verse, daram,
folk-tales, and short stories. He was exiled to the Caucasus. Married
Natalya Gonacharova 1831. Killed by a Frenchman, Baron Georges d'Antes
in a duel defending his wife's honour

Q

QUILLER-COUCH, SIR ARTHUR THOMAS
Novelist & Man of Letters. Married Louisa Hicks in 1889. Journalist
in London he returned to live in Cornwall when his health broke down in
1892, living at 'The Haven' in Fowey until his death

R

RACISM, BOOKS ON
Slavery was outlawed in Britain in 1807 and made a capital offence in
1824. Abolitionist writers were William Wilberforce, Mary
Wollstonecraft, Elizabeth Benger, Hannah More, Henry Brougham &
Susannah Watts

RACKHAM, ARTHUR
Artist and book illustrator, esp of fairy-tales. Married Edyth Starkie in 1903

RALEIGH OR RALEGH, SIR WALTER
Explorer, Courtier, Statesman, Historian & Poet. Married Elizabeth
Throckmorton in 1593. Imprisoned in the Tower after the failure of his
expedition to find El Dorado, his estates were confiscated on the death
of Elizabeth I in 1603. Released in 1615. He was executed (beheaded) in
the Tower in 1618 for being an 'agent of Spain'

RAMSAY, ALLAN
Poet and Bookseller. Married Christian Ross in 1712. Owned a bookshop in
Edinburgh and established the first lending (circulating) library in
Scotland in 1726 (or more likely 1728)

RANSOME, ARTHUR MICHELL
Novelist and children's writer. Married Ivy Walker in 1909 but it didn't
last. During 1915 he was in Russia where he fell in love with Trotsky's
secretary, Evgenia Shelepin. They married 1924

RENDELL, RUTH
Novelist. Married Donald John Rendell in 1950, and then remarried him in 1977

RHYS, ERNEST PERCIVAL
Poet, Novelist, Editor & Playwright. First editor of the Everyman
Series. With the Publisher Joseph Mallaby Dent, they dreamed up the
series in 1906. By 1910 they had published 500 titles. Rhys wrote of 130
introductions for the series. Married Grace Little 1891

ROBERTS, SIR CHARLES GEORGE DOUGLAS
Poet, Novelist & Children's Writer, esp of animal stories. Married
Mary Fenety in 1880, and Joan Montgomery 1943. He wrote nearly 70 books.
He moved to England in 1911 and served as an army officer in WW1,
despite being in his mid-fifties. He returned to Canada in 1925

ROBINSON, WILLIAM HEATH
Cartoonist and book Illustrator, esp known for his fantastically
humorous drawings of machines. Son of wood engraver Thomas Robinson,
brother of Charles & Thomas.

ROHMER, SAX
Novelist & Short Story Writer. Married Elizabeth Knox in 1909. He made a fortune from his books being turned into films

ROLFE, FATHER FREDERICK WILLIAM
Writer, Blackmailer, Con Man, Pauper and Pederast. Failed schoolmaster,
painter and photographer. Literary genius. (See "the Quest for Corvo"
by A J A Symons 1934). From 1908 he lived in Venice

ROSSETTI, CHRISTINA GEORGINA
Religious Poet. Younger sister of poet and artist Dante Gabriel
Rossetti. High Church. Home educated. Single and suffereing poor health,
she lived most her life with her mother, Frances Polidori Rossetti. She
turned down various offers of marriage because of religious
differences. Wrote "In the Bleak Midiwnter"

ROSSETTI, DANTE GABRIEL
Poet & Artist. Brother of Christina. Married Elizabeth Siddal in
1860 (died 1862). A founder member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

RUSKIN, JOHN
Author and art critic. Inherited a large fortune from his father, a
sherry importer. Married Euphemia Chalmers Gray in 1848, dissolved 1855,
when she married John Millais. Became friends with Kate Greenaway in
1880s and had a big influence of her life and work. In 1871 set up his
Press at Orpington in Kent. It was run by George Allen, an engraver.Lived at Brantwood, Coniston in the Lake District from 1872-1900. Buried in Coniston churchyard

RUSSELL, BERTRAND ARTHUR WILLIAM, 3RD EARL RUSSELL
Philosopher, Mathematician, Essayist. Nobel Prize 1950. Married Alys
Pearsall Smith. His second wife was the feminist writer Dora Winifred
Black (1894-1986). They divorced in 1934 and he married Patricia Spence
in 1936.Imprisoned in WW2 for his Pacifism

RUSSELL, GEORGE WILLIAM
Poet, painter, mystic and Irish patriot. Married Violet North 1898. Friend of W B Yeats, who introduced him to theosophy

S

SACKVILLE-WEST, VICTORIA (VITA)
Novelist & Poet. Only child of the 3rd Lord Sackville. Married the
diplomat Harold Nicolson 1913. Had a passionate affair with Violette
Trefusis in 1918, who married Denys Trefusis in 1919 to suppress the
scandal. She lived at Sissinghurst in Kent

SCOTT, SIR WALTER
Novelist, Poet & Biographer. Associated with the Borders. Married
Charlotte Charpentier in 1797. In 1826 bankrupt as a result of his
publishing partner and for sinking money into the Ballantyne's printing
business (a total of £130.000). He worked for the rest of his life to
clear his debts. Lived at Abbotsford from 1812

SEARLE, RONALD WILLIAM FORDHAM
Cartoonist, Caricaturist, Illustrator, designer, Publisher and humorist.
Married Kaye Webb in 1948 (dissolved 1967) & Monica Koenig in 1967.
Searle lived in Paris from 1961 and moved to the south of France in
1977. See Willans

SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM
Actor, Poet & Dramatist. Little known up to 18. Married a farmer's
daughter, Anne Hathaway in 1582. Went to London, Globe Theatre as actor
and playwright. 38 Plays in total. 36 Printed in the First Folio of
1623. He is the most published author in history.

SHAW, GEORGE BERNARD
Dramatist, wit, and socialist. Left Ireland to live in London in 1876
and didn't return for 30 years. In 1898 he married Charlotte
Payne-Townsend (1857-1943). Nobel Prize 1925. Lived in the new rectory
at Ayot St Lawrence in Hertfordshire from 1906 (it was renamed Shaw's
Corner after 1946) until his death.

SHELLEY, MARY
Novelist and poet. Daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft & William Godwin.
Met and eloped to the Continent with Percy B Shelley 1814 and they
married in 1817, but Shelley drowned in 1822

SHELLEY, PERCY BYSSHE
Romantic Poet. Married Harriet Westbrook in 1811 (drowned herself in the
Serpentine in 1816). He left her in 1814 after meeting Mary Godwin, and
they eloped to Italy. They married in 1816. Accidentally drowned while
sailing near Spezzia in Italy

SIMS, GEORGE ROBERT
Novelist, Poet & Playwright. Married Florence Wykes in 1901. He was
hugely successful. His play "Lights O'London", first performed in 1881,
was said to have earned him £72,000 by 1894

SMART, CHRISTOPHER
Poet. He edited and contributed to John Newbery's magazine "The
Midwife". In 1753 he married Newbery's stepdaughter, Anna Maria Carnan.
He was imprisoned for debt in 1747, his wife left him and Newbery
disowned him. Thomas Carnan was to help him but he died. Entered a
mental asylum from 1756-1763, which led him to constant public prayer
and the production of most of his religious poetry. Died in the King's
Bench prison

SMOLLETT, TOBIAS GEORGE
Novelist. All his work is satirical and full of coarse humour. He
travelled the world as a ship's surgeon and died on the continent. Also
translated Cervantes

SOUTHEY, ROBERT
Lake Poet, Translator and historian. Poet Laureate from 1813. Married
Edith Fricker in 1795 (died 1837) & Caroline Bowles in 1839. Brother
in law of Coleridge. Buried at Crosthwaite churchyard in Cumbria, his
grave was restored by the Brazilian Government as a 'thank-you' for his
History of Brazil

SPENSER, EDMUND
Poet. Married Machabyas Chyld in 1579 (died 1591) and Elizabeth Boyle in
1594. Called the 'poet's poet'. Went to Ireland in 1580 and wrote much
of his work there in Kilcolman Castle (Cork) which was burnt in an
insurrection in 1598. Buried in Westminster Abbey

SPRAGUE DE CAMP, LYON
Science Fiction Novelist. Married Catherine (d.1999) in 1939 and much of his work was co-written with her

ST DOMINIC'S PRESS
Private Press based at Ditchling in Sussex and founded by the artist Eric Gill

STABLES, DR WILLIAM GORDON
Prolific writer of Boy's Stories, Animal Books, health books and
Historical Novels. Married Theresa McCormack in 1874. Produced an
average of 4 books per year for 30 years. He appeared often in Fleet St
in full highland dress, and toured England in a horse-drwn caravan
called "The Wanderer", complete with valet and coachman

STANLEY, HENRY MORTON
Explorer and author & amateur artist. Born John Rowlands, he was
orphaned and brought up in the St Asaph Workhouse 1847-56. Adopted by a
New orleans cottonbroker, Henry Stanley. Served in the Confederate army
1861-2. became a roving journalist in Asia Minor, Abyssinia &
Africa. Married the artist and illustrator Dorothy Tennant in 1890

STEIN, GERTRUDE
Writer and novelist, poet and literary experimentalist. Lesbian. Moved
to France 1903 and spent rest of her life with Alice B Toklas from 1907.
Friend of Picasso & Braque

STERNE, LAURENCE
Novelist, Traveller and humorist. A born philanderer, he married
Elizabeth Lumley in 1741 and it was an unhappy union. Led a wandering,
unconventional life and died in poverty. Although buried in London his
remains were interred in 1969 and reburied at Coxwold in Yorkshire

STEVENSON, ROBERT LOUIS (BALFOUR)
Novelist. The son of a prosperous civil engineer. Married a divorced
American, Fanny Osborne (nee Van de Grift), in 1880. They lived in
Switzerland and France until ill-health (probably TB) forced him to
Samoa in 1890 where he died of a brain haemorrhage

STOBBS, WILLIAM
Prolific writer and illustrator of children's books. Married to Joanna Stubbs

STRANG, HERBERT
Pseud of George Herbert Ely (1866-1958) & C James L'Estrange
(1867-1947) who were staff members of the Oxford University Press. They
published fiction, textbooks and non-fiction for both boys and girls.
Sometimes they collaborated with John Aston, George Lawrence &
Richard Stead

SWIFT, JONATHAN
Prose Satirist. English parents. Came to England 1688 and took Anglican
orders. A Whig at first, then became a Tory (1710). Retired to Ireland
1714. Esther Johnson (Stella)(1681-1728) figured very importantly in his
life but it is unknown if he ever married her. It has been said that in
his will he left £11.000

T

TAGORE, SIR RABINDRANATH
Poet, Novelist, Philosopher & Dramatist. Born into a family of
religious and social reformers, musicians & artists. Married
Mrinalinidebi in 1884. Tried to blend east and west in his works. Nobel
Prize 1913 (first Asian recipient). Came to England 1878. Composed over
200 songs. Exhibited his paintings worldwide. Published over 60 works.
Resigned his knighthood in 1919 in protest against British policies in
the Punjab

TALBOT, ETHEL
Children's Writer of Guide, School and Adventure stories

THACKERAY, WILLIAM MAKEPEACE
Novelist & ilustrator. Journalist all his life, having lost most of
his money gambling. Contributed to Punch and edited 'Cornhill'. Married
Isabella Shawe in 1836, but she went mad in the 1840s. Had an
unfortunate love affair with his best friend's wife, Jane Brookfield.

THOMAS, DYLAN MARLAIS
Poet. Married Caitlin Macnamara 1937. An alcoholic, he died in the USA on a lecture tour

THOMAS, PHILIP EDWARD
Poet & Prose Writer. Married Helen Noble in 1899. Killed by a shell at Arras in WW1

THOMPSON, FRANCIS JOSEPH
Catholic Poet & Essayist. Intimate of the Meynells who rescued him from poverty and opium addiction

THOREAU, HENRY DAVID
Essayist, Poet and nature lover. Rebelled against society and lived in a
solitary hut at Walden pond, near Concord, cultivating a small plot of
land, observing nature and reading and writing (1845-7). Went to prison
for one night rather than pay a poll tax to support war and slavery.
Died of TB. Only two books published in his lifetime

THURBER, JAMES GROVER
Humorist, Writer & Cartoonist. Worked for The New Yorker from 1933-1961. Blind in one eye from a childhood accident

TOLSTOY, LEO NIKOLAYEVICH, COUNT
Writer and philosopher. Fought in Crimean War. Of noble family, but
freed his serfs and refused to take advantage of his wealth. Married
1862

TOURTEL, MARY
Writer and illustrator. Creator of Rupert Bear. Written by her husband, H
B Tourtel, a sub-editor on the Daily Express. She drew the strip for
the paper from 1921-1935 when her failing eyesight forced her to hand
over to A E Bestall

TROLLOPE, FRANCES MILTON
Novelist & Travel Writer. Married Thomas Anthony Trollope, a
barrister, in 1809. They moved to America (1827-30) where he failed as a
shopkeeper. Returned to England when her husband died. Spent her last
20 years in Florence. Anthony Trollope was her 3rd son

TUPPER, MARTIN FARQUAR
Poet, Novelist, Playwright & Prose Writer. Married his cousin,
Isabelle Devis, in 1835. Inherited and lived at Albury House in Surrey. A
terrible stutterer in his early life he turned to poetry and achieved
great fame (Especially in America), but today he is barely read or
remembered. All his works are out of print.

TWAIN, MARK
Humorist, novelist, travel writer, riverboat pilot, & publisher.
1870 married Olivia Langdon and moved to live in Hartford, Connecticut,
where he wrote most of his books. In 1894 he was made bankrupt after bad
investments. He went back to lecturing and re-made his fortune

TYNAN, KATHARINE
Poet & Novelist. Married barrister H A Hinkson in 1893 (d.1919). She
disapproved of the Easter Rising and the Republican movement

V

VERNE
, JULES GABRIEL
Novelist & Science Fiction writer. Often referred to as the
"Founding Father" of Science Fiction. In 1856 married widow with two
children

VIVIAN, EVELYN CHARLES HENRY
Novelist, Military Historian & Editor. As a young man he travelled in South Africa and may have fought in the Boer War

VOLTAIRE
Philosopher, Novelist, Dramatist and Epic Poet. Imprisoned in the
Bastille 1717-18. In 1726-9 in exile in England (here he wrote some of
his dramas). 1750-3 in Berlin at invitation of Frederick the Great as
adviser and chamberlain.